


Two Time Lords, A Human Girl, and Plastic

by jedimasterstar



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-19
Updated: 2012-10-15
Packaged: 2017-11-10 07:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/463736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedimasterstar/pseuds/jedimasterstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU of "Rose".  The Doctor and Romana land in 2005 London while tracking a signal.  They then meet a young woman who won't leave them alone!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rose

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to picture Romana, think of Erica Durance from _Smallville_ and _Saving Hope_.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Romana as she talked to the Doctor over the comm.  They were currently in London, England, chasing after a signal that came up.  It was the Nestene Consciousness, that they knew; but unfortunately they had no idea where the signal was coming from exactly.  They were lucky to track it to London.  “Where are you?” she then asked.

 _*Outside a clothing store,*_ he replied.  _*This is where the scanner is leading me.*_   There was a pause before he added, _*And all I see is a small satellite dish.*_

“That’s not powerful enough to send out the signals that,” she said as she looked at the scanners again, shifting a strand of her brown hair behind her right ear.

 _*The signal may be bouncing off,*_ he said.  _*Going in anyway.  I’ll contact you in a bit.*_   And with that, the line went dead. 

Romana just sighed and shook her head.  Nothing ever changes when it comes to him – he just continues to go blindly into danger.  She then chuckled to herself as she remembered the times that he did just that.  But almost always he succeeded – though there were a few times where she had to intervene.  But that was then and this is now.  Who knows what is going to happen next.

It was not until an hour later that she heard from him.  Not by comm, but by him walking into the TARDIS.  He smelt as if he was in an explosion.  “What happened?” she asked.

“Saved an ape from Autons, blew up the store.  Nothing new,” he replied, his face staying stoic as he looked at the scanner.

“You had to save a human?”

“Wrong place, wrong time for her.  Though she was a little demanding,” he answered.

Romana just smiled.  “I thought that was why you liked to bring humans along?” she teased.  The Doctor gave her a mock glare.  Laughing, she instead asked, “What’s next?”

“Continue to track the signal,” he replied.  “Hopefully it will get us somewhere.”

And she certainly hoped so.

***

It was not until the next day that they managed to find a good lead.  Romana managed to pick up a weak signal that was coming from a residential complex – well, flats, if she remembered the correct term for them.  Anyway, the Doctor, using his sonic, led her to a particular one.  They had to go up a few flights of stairs before coming to the door of one of the flats.  “This is where it’s coming from?” asked Romana.  It seemed to be rather an odd place for the signal to be coming from.

“Whatever it is, it keeps moving,” he replied.

“Oh goodie, a mobile signal.  What is the universe coming to?” she sarcastically said. 

The Doctor glared at her before dropping to his knees to examine the small opening in the door.  He pushed it rather roughly; but a second later it moves softly before it stayed opened.  The Doctor’s eyes went wide as he jumped up, making Romana wonder what just happened.  The door then opened and she saw a young blonde woman with brown eyes.  “What're you doing here?” he demanded.

“I live here,” said the young woman.

“Well, what do you do that for?”

“Because I do!  And I'm only at home because someone blew up my job,” the girl replied.  That was when the Time Lady realized that this must be the human the Doctor had rescued the night before.

He looked at his sonic before looking back at the human.  “Must've got the wrong signal.  You're not plastic, are you?” he asked as he knocked on the girl’s forehead.  Romana rolled her eyes.  “No, bonehead.  Bye, then!”

But before he could move, the young woman grabbed him and pulled him into the flat.  “You, inside.  Right now,” she said.  Romana barely had enough time to get in before the other woman closed the door.

“Who is it?” came an older female voice.

The girl poked her head into a room and replied, “It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry.  Give us 10 minutes.”

“She deserves compensation,” the older woman said as the other walked away and the Doctor took her spot.

“Huh, we're talking millions,” he said.  Romana smirked and rolled her eyes.

They just stood there for a moment waiting for the younger one to come back.  But the elder seemed to have an eye for her friend.  She looked at him and then stood up.  “I'm in my dressing gown,” she said flirtatiously.

Romana tried so hard not to laugh as the Doctor said, “Yes, you are.”

“There's a strange man in my bedroom.”

“Yes, there is.”

“Well, anything could happen.”

The Time Lord stared at her for a moment before saying, “No.”  He then walked off as Romana continued to contain her composure as the human pulled a face.

Walking quickly to catch up with him, she asked, “It’s safe to assume that the young woman was the one you saved last night?”  He nodded as they walked into what appeared to be a sitting area.

“Don't mind the mess.  Do you want a coffee?”  asked the girl.  Seeing Romana, she amended, “For the both of you?”

“Might as well, thanks!  Just milk,” replied the Doctor.

Romana responded with, “No, thank you.”

The girl nodded as she walked into another room.  “We should go to the police.  Seriously.  Both of us.”

But the man was not listening.  Instead, he picked up a magazine and looked at it.  “That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien,” he said.  The Time Lady just shook her head as she took a seat in one of the chairs.

“I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong.”

He then picked up a book and flicked through it.  “Sad ending,” he said.

“Do any stories have a happy ending?” asked Romana.

“They said on the news they'd found a body,” the girl continued on, blissfully unaware that she was being ignore.

The Doctor then picked up an envelope and said, “Rose Tyler.”  He spotted a mirror and looked at his reflection.  “Ahh, could've been worse!” he observed as he tugged his ears.  “Look at me' ears.”  He then looked at Romana and said, “You could’ve said something about that.”

“With all the trouble you kept getting us into, I never really had the chance,” she retorted while giving him a ‘give-me-a-break’ face.  “Besides, since when did you care about how you looked?”

“All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke,” Romana then heard the girl – Rose – say, obviously continuing on with a conversation that neither her or the Doctor were responding to.

He then found a pack of cards and began to play with them.  “Luck be a lady!” he sang as he shuffled them.  Romana snorted.

“Well anyway if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what I'm saying,” said Rose as she was still busy in the other room.  The cards that the Time Lord was playing with went flying when he shuffled them again.  Romana could only laugh.  “I want you to explain everything,” the young woman then added.

Looking at the cards, he said, “Maybe not.”  Suddenly, a scuffling sound was heard from behind the sofa.

The two Time Lords looked at each other.  “Do you have a cat?” called Romana as the Doctor went to look.

“No,” Rose replied.  The Doctor then leaned to look behind the sofa.  That was when an arm – more than likely plastic arm – leaped out from behind it and grabbed him by the neck.  Rose happened to enter at that time, saying, “We did have, but there's these strays.  They come in off the estate.” 

Romana, in the meantime, could not decide if she wanted to laugh or come to his aid.  Deciding on the latter, she moved from the chair and tried to pry the dummy arm’s fingers from off the Doctor’s neck.  “Shit.  Why is it that they keep getting stronger?” she mumbled to herself.

Rose apparently was not paying attention to what was going on.  Setting down the coffee, she said, “I told Mickey to chuck that out.  Honestly, give a man a plastic hand.  Anyway, I don't even know your name.  Doctor, what was it?”

It was at that moment that the Time Lord managed to through the hand off of him.  Unfortunately, it then flew across the room and attached itself to Rose’s face.  The girl responded by screaming while the Doctor and Romana leapt to her aid and tried to pull it off. 

Romana lost her grip on it, causing the other two to crash into the glass table, which caused it to break.  The Doctor then pushed Rose back onto the sofa and pulled out his sonic.  One click caused the hand to lose its grip on Rose and a few more caused it to disable completely.  It's alright, I've stopped it.  There you go, you see?” he said as he tossed the arm to the human girl.  “'Armless.”

Rose was not impressed – more liked extremely unhappy, which Romana found amusing.  “Do you think?” responded Rose as she hit him in the arm with it.

“Ow!” said the Time Lord as he grabbed his arm.  He then took the dummy arm from Rose.  Grabbing Romana’s hand, he drags her out the door with him. 

Unfortunately for him but amusing to Romana, Rose came running after them.  “Hold on a minute!  You two can't just go swanning off,” she yelled as they ran down the stairwell.

“Yes we can. Here we are, this is us, swanning off. See ya!” replied the Doctor.

“That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!”

“Brilliant observation,” retorted Romana.

“You can't just walk away.  That's not fair!  You've got to tell me what's going on.”

“No we don't,” said the Doctor as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

As they exited the building, Rose said, “Alright then.  I'll go to the police.  I'll tell everyone.  You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed.  So, your choice.  Tell me, or I'll start talking.”

“Why do you always have to meet the ones that like to argue?” Romana sarcastically asked.

Ignoring her, the Time Lord replied to Rose, “Is that supposed to sound tough?”

“Sort of.”

He smirked and said, “Doesn't work.”

“Who are you two?” asked the girl.

“I told you!  The Doctor.  Though you didn’t meet Romana at that point.”  The Time Lady gave the girl a wave.

“Yeah.  But Doctor what?”

“Just the Doctor.”

“The Doctor.”

“Hello!” the Doctor said cheerily.

“Is that supposed to sound impressive?” asked Rose.

Romana snorted.  “To him, yes.”  Her friend glared at her.  She just gave him a friendly smile.

“Come on.  You can tell me.  I've seen enough.  Are you two the police?”

“No,” he replied.  “We were just passing through. We’re a long way from home.”  The Time Lady smirked and thought, _“That’s an understatement.”_

“But what have I done wrong?  How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?” asked Rose.

In disbelief, the Doctor said, “Oh!  Suddenly the entire world revolves around you!  You were just an accident.  You got in the way, that's all.”

“It tried to kill me!”

“It was after us, Rose,” said Romana.

The Doctor added, “Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered it.  Almost ruined the whole thing.  This morning, we were tracking it down, it was tracking us down.  The only reason it fixed on you is that you met me.”

Rose asked sarcastically, “So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you?”

Romana laughed as the Doctor replied, “Sort of, yeah.”

“You're full of it!” said a disbelieving Rose.

“You have no idea!” Romana said as she continued to laugh.

Ignoring the Time Lady, he said, “Sort of, yeah.”

“But, all this plastic stuff – who else knows about it?” asked the young woman.

This time Romana answered with, “No one.”

“What, you're both on your own?”

“Well, who else is there?  I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly!  When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!” exploded the Doctor in frustration, frustration that was more than likely directed at Rose.  Romana rubbed his back gently in an attempt to calm him down.

Taking the dummy arm away from him, Rose said, “Okay, start from the beginning.”  They came to a road and began to walk down it.  “If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do…how did you kill it?” asked Rose.

“The thing controlling it projects life into the arm.  I cut off the signal, dead,” answered the Doctor.

“So that's radio control?”

“Oh, heavens, no.  It’s thought controlled,” responded Romana.  She dropped her hand back to her side only for her friend to grab it and hold onto it.

He then looked at the young human and asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” replied Rose, though her voice told her something different.  “So, who's controlling it, then?”

“Long story,” he replied.

“But what's it all for?  I mean, shop window dummies…what's that about?  Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?” she teasingly asked.

The trio laughed.  “No,” replied the Time Lord.

“I know.”

“No price war,” added Romana.

They laughed again before the Doctor said seriously, “They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you.  Do you believe me?”

“No.”

“Yet you’re still here and listening,” said Romana.

Rose stopped but the two Time Lords continued on.  “Really though, Doctor, Romana.  Tell me - who are you two?” she asked again.

The duo stopped and looked at each other.  The Doctor then turned to face Rose.  “Do you know like we were saying?  About the Earth revolving?” he asked as he walked back to her, leaving Romana where she was.  “It's like when you were a kid.  The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still.”  He then looks at her and takes her hand.  “Romana and I can feel it.  The turn of the Earth.  The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it.  We're falling through space, you and me.  Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…”  He let go of her hand.  “That's who we are.  Now, forget us, Rose Tyler.”  He took back the arm and waved it in her face.  “Go home,” he said to her as he turned and walked away.  When he reached Romana, he grabbed her hand again and they went to the TARDIS. 

Once they entered, Romana said, “She’s not.”

He walked up to the console, taking the old girl into the Vortex and began to attach wires to the arm.  “What?” he asked.

“She’s not going to forget us.”

He sighed.  “Why do I have the feeling that you’re right?” he wondered.

“Because I usually am.”  He did not reply to that, so instead she said, “We’ll just have to wait and see.”


	2. Of Humans and Plastic Boyfriends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to sound a bit rough mostly because I could not get the words to come out the way I wanted them to.

After hours – or what seemed like hours – of working with the arm, they gave up.  It just was not ideal enough in tracking the Consciousness.  “Shit,” the Doctor mumbled under his breath as he looked at the scanners.

“It was worth a shot,” said Romana as she leaned against console.  She knew that he did not like defeat, even if it was a small one.  And it appeared to be even worse in this incarnation.  She had seen him lose his temper before; but this time was different.  His temper seemed to be on a shorter fuse than ever before.  The way that he was looking at the scanner made her wonder if he was going to destroy it or something.  Deciding to figure it out, she went up beside him and asked, “What is it?”  He did not answer.  _“I hate it when he does this,”_ she thought, frustration running through her mind.  “Don’t do this to me,” she said angrily.  He turned to look at her.  “Do you have to be such an idiot to keep it all bottled up?” she then asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he responded as he looked back at the scanner.

She gave a dramatic sigh and said, “You’re more impossible than you were before!  Don’t you care?”

“Damn it, Romana!” he roared.  She jumped a bit.  “I _do_ care!  You don’t think that I don’t think about it?!  I can barely sleep without thinking about it!”  They just stood there in silence, just staring at each other before he added, “The guilt eats at me.”

Tears threatened to appear as Romana said, “Don’t you dare.  It was not your fault.  There was no other choice.  It was either let Rassilon continue with what he was going to do or let the Daleks continue on.  You made the right choice.”  The man looked away from her then and she could see that he was not too sure about what she had just said.  But what made her heart break was the emptiness in his eyes – eyes that used to be so full of life that it made her feel happy.  And it was gone.

Before anything else could be said, an alarm went off.  Startled, the Doctor looked at the scanner and said, “Looks like we have an Auton.”

“Where?” asked Romana as she quickly recovered her emotions and went to stand next to him.

“London, again,” he replied.  “It seems to be coming from some sort of restaurant.”  He flicked a few buttons on the console and the TARDIS came to a stop.

As they stepped out, she asked, “What’s the plan?”  They were currently behind a building that had a wooden gate at the far right.  She could smell of rotting leftover food that was coming from the metal containers.

He did not answer at first – he just used his screwdriver to scan the area.  “We’re going to go through the back.”

Romana nodded and walked with him.  They entered through the back door and snuck through the kitchen without nobody noticed them.  They entered the main restaurant area.  “Doesn’t seem like that big of a place to look,” she said as she looked around.  She then froze a moment later when she saw it.  “Um, Doctor, take a look at this,” she murmured as she nodded in the said direction.

Sitting across the ways was Rose sitting across from a young black man who had skin that looked entirely too smooth to be natural.  “Can’t that girl not stay out of trouble?” he murmured, more than likely annoyed by the fact that the girl was here than he was about the Auton.

“What’s the plan?” she whispered.

Instead of answering, he grabbed a bottle of wine and walked over to the couple.  She followed him, though she made sure that she stayed back enough so it would not look too suspicious.  Once he got to the table and taking a place behind the Auton, he asked, “Your champagne.”

“We didn't order any champagne,” replied the plastic creature as he grabbed Rose’s hand.  “Where's the Doctor?” it asked her.

Not to be deterred, the Doctor just simply walked to Rose’s side of the table and said, “Ma'am, your champagne.”

Rose just waved him off.  “It's not ours,” she told him.  She did not even bother to look at him.  “Mickey, what is it?  What's wrong?”

Mickey – the Auton – replied, “I need to find out how much you know.  So where is he?”

Romana tried hard not to laugh as she watched the Doctor finally get fed up and asked, “Does anybody want this champagne?”

The Auton finally had it with “the waiter” and raised his head as he said, “Look, we didn't order i…”  Seeing that it was the one he was asking about, he then said, “Ah.  Gotcha.”  Rose then turned to see who it was.

Shaking the bottle, the Doctor said, “Don't mind me.  I'm just toasting the happy couple.  On the house!”  He released the cork of the bottle, which then hit the Auton in the forehead.  It absorbed the cork and he spit it out of his mouth.  Rose had a look of shock which told Romana that the human did not know that her boyfriend or whatever was a fake.

The Auton glared at the Doctor.  “Anyway,” he said as his hands suddenly turned into clubs and smashing the table.  Rose screamed as she jumped out of the way; the Doctor just grabbed the Auton’s head and tugged on it until it came off.  “Don't think that's gonna stop me,” the head said.  A man at a nearby table screamed.

Hitting a fire bell, Rose yelled, “Everyone out!  Out now!”  Everyone ran for the exits while the Doctor, Romana, and Rose ran toward the back.  “Get out!  Get out!  Get out!” Rose then yelled at the kitchen staff.  After running out the back exit, the Time Lord proceeded to lock the door with the sonic while Romana tried to keep the door shut against the Auton’s assault.  Rose ran to the closest gate and said, “Open the gate!  Use that tube thing, come on!”

“What, this?  This is a sonic screwdriver,” said the Doctor as he began to walk towards the TARDIS. 

“Use it!”

Feeling sorry for the young woman, Romana walked up to her and said, “Come on.  Follow us in here.”

Rose looked from her to the TARDIS.  “We can't hide inside a wooden box!” she yelled.  She continued to rattle the chains on the gate.  The Time Lady shook her head and went to the TARDIS.  “It's gonna get us!  Doctor!  Romana!” the human continued to yell. 

But Romana ignored her and entered the ship.  She then heard Rose follow her in but had to smile when she heard her run back out again.  The girl entered again and said, “It's gonna follow us!”

“The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried.  Now, shut up a minute,” said the Doctor as he wired the head to the console.  Romana could only watch as Rose took in what she saw.  “You see, the arm is too simple.  But the head's perfect.”

Walking over to Rose, Romana calmly asked her, “Are you alright?”

But Rose did not have time to answer.  The Doctor interrupted with, “I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source.  Right.”  He turned around at that moment, facing toward the two women.  Looking at Rose, he asked, “Where do you want to start?”

“Um…the inside's bigger than the outside?” replied a very confusedRose.

“You think?” murmured Romana while the Doctor nodded his head.

“It's alien,” the human then said.

“Yup,” replied the Time Lord.

She then looked at the both of them and asked, “Are you both aliens?”

The two in question look at each other before the Doctor replied, “Yes.”  He looked at her again and asked, “Is that alright?”

“Yeah,” the girl replied quickly.

Romana chuckled and shook her head.  “It’s alright, Rose,” she tried to reassure her.

“It's called the TARDIS, this thing.  T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space,” added the Doctor.  Rose sobbed a bit.  “That's okay.  Culture shock.  Happens to the best of us.”

But Romana noticed that Rose was not looking _at_ him – she was looking _behind_ him.  And that was what made her look to see what it was.  She could only stare in bewilderment.  “Did they kill him?  Mickey?  Did they kill Mickey?  Is he dead?” asked Rose.

Stunned for a moment, the Doctor thought for a moment before saying, “Oh…didn't think of that.”  Romana rolled her eyes – it sounded quite typical of him.

“He's my boyfriend.  You pulled off his head.  They copied him and you didn't even think?  And now you're just going to let him melt?!” said an angry young woman who gestures to the console. 

“Melt?” wondered the man as he turned around.  Sure enough, there was the head melting and making some sort of bubbling sound.  “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, NO!” he cried as he ran around the console frantically, hitting various buttons and pulling a lever as he went.  “Romana, why didn’t you say anything?!”

“I thought you would have smelt it by now,” she replied nonchalantly as she shrugged.

“What're you doing?!” demanded Rose.

The Doctor did not answer, so Romana replied, “He’s following the signal.  The Consciousness doesn’t want us to find it.”

“It's fading!” exclaimed the man, furiously still working with the controls.  “Wait I've got it.”  Looking at the scream, hope faded from his face as he said, “No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!”  The TARDIS shook as Romana felt the old girl begin to move.  “Almost there!  Almost there!  Here we go!” encouraged the Doctor.  The engines then stopped and the Doctor, grabbing Romana’s hand, led her out onto the sidewalk.  “Let’s go see what we got,” he said.  The Time Lady smiled and just shook her head.  Some things never change.


	3. The Journey Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I thought I uploaded the last chapter. Shame on me. Well, here it is!

“You brought us to the banks of the Thames,” observed the Time Lady as she looked about.

“This is where the signal came from,” he fumed as he looked about.  “Bloody hell, I lost the signal.  I got _so_ close.” 

Romana gave him a comforting smile and said, “Well, your flying has always been terrible.”  He pinched her in response, causing her to yelp.

Coming out of the TARDIS, Rose looked around, confusion evident in her face.  “We've moved!  Does it fly?” she asked in bewilderment.

“Disappears there, reappears here.  You wouldn't understand,” replied the Doctor.

“But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing?  It's still on the loose,” said Rose.

“It more than likely melted with the head,” answered Romana.

Dumbfounded, Rose whispered, “I'll have to tell his mother.”  The Doctor looked at her questioningly while Romana knew who she was talking about.

Rose saw the Time Lord’s look and Romana watched in amusement as she yelled, “Mickey!  I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!”  The Doctor rolled his eyes, which prompted Romana to punch him in the arm while Rose continued, “You were right, you ARE alien.”  She turned and walked back towards the railing.

“There you go again,” murmured Romana.  “Alienating everyone.  You’re very crabby in this incarnation.”

He glared at her before turning his attention back to Rose.  “Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey…”

“Yeah, he's not a kid.”

Ignoring Rose’s interruption, he continued, “It's because I'm trying to save the life of every _stupid_ ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?!”

“Alright?!”

“Yes!  It is!” he ended.  Now it was Romana’s turn to roll her eyes.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Rose asked, “If you two are aliens, then how comes you sound like you're from the North and Romana sounds like she’s American?”

Romana shrugged as the Doctor replied offendedly, “Lots of planets have a North.”  He folded his arms and looked away.

“You’re such a big baby,” retorted Romana.

“You’re no bloody help.”

“Be nice,” she ordered, having grown use to the man’s various attitudes over the past few incarnations.  She learned that she had to have nerves of steel when dealing with him in his more…interesting moods.

Rose spoke up as she looked at the TARDIS.  “What's a police public call box?” she asked.

Startled by the question, the Doctor answered, “It's a telephone box from the 1950s.”  He patted the ship fondly as a grin formed on his face.  “It's a disguise.”

“Only because he won’t let me fix it,” said Romana.

“I don’t want it fixed!”

“Whatever.”

Rose looked at them for a moment before smiling and shaking her head.  “Okay.  And this living plastic, what's it got against us?” she asked.

“Nothing, it loves you.  You've got such a good planet.  Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air…perfect.  Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs,” replied the Doctor.

“Its planets were destroyed in the War,” added Romana.

“So Earth…dinner!” the Doctor ended.

“Any way of stopping it?” asked the human.

The Time Lord grinned as he pulled out a vial of blue liquid from his jacket pocket.  “Anti-plastic!” he replied.

“Anti-plastic…”

“Anti-plastic!  But first I've got to find it.  How can you hide something that big in a city this small?” he wondered as he began to look around.

“Hold on…hide what?” wondered Rose.

Romana replied, “The Consciousness is controlling all plastic in the surrounding area.  To do that, it needs a transmitter.  And it has to be big enough to boost the signal.”

“What's it look like?” the girl asked.

“Like a transmitter.  Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London,” replied the Doctor as he began to pace.  The Time Lady could tell that he was getting agitated – he only paced when he could not figure out something.  “A huge circular metal structure…like a dish.”  He turned to face the women, all the while his back was turned to the London Eye.  Romana and Rose looked at each other and then to the Eye, each thinking the same thing.  Unfortunately, the Doctor was clueless.  “Like a wheel.  Close to where we're standing.  Must be completely invisible.”  He then noticed that his audience was not paying attention to him.  “What?” he asked.

Rose looked at Romana again.  “Really?” she asked.

“Now you see what I have to deal with,” replied the Time Lady.

“What?” he asked again.  Rose nodded toward the Eye.  The man turned around, looked at it, and then back at the women, still confused.  “What?”

Fed up, Romana walked up to him, grabbed him by the chin, turned him back around, and said, “For claiming to be so smart, you can be so dense.”  Turning his attention to the Eye, she added, “Think about it.”  The man just stood there for a moment before his eyes widen in understanding.  “The TARDIS didn’t lose the signal.  It just brought us to the closest coordinates.”

He grinned stupidly as he said, “Oh, fantastic!”  He then grabbed Romana’s hand and ran, Rose running close behind them. 

Running across the bridge and stopping in front of the Eye, they stopped at the foot of the ferris wheel.  “This definitely looks like a good spot for it,” said Romana as she began to look around.  “Great transmitter.”

The Doctor nodded.  “Plastic, all over the world.  Every artificial thing waiting to come alive.  The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables…”

“The breast implants,” mumbled Rose.

Romana cringed.  “That’s a bad image,” she said.

“Still, we've found the transmitter.  The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath,” said the Doctor.

Rose joined Romana in searching for a way underground.  A moment later, the girl yelled, “What about down here?”

The duo rushed over.  Down below was a manhole cover that led to the sewers.  “Looks good to me,” replied the Time Lord.  Romana nodded in agreement.  They ran down to the manhole.  The Doctor took off the lid and they climbed down the ladder.  Once down the ladder, the Doctor opened a door that led to another chamber.  A moment later, they found what they are looking for.  “The Nestene Consciousness,” said the Time Lord as he pointed to a huge vat that was filled with a moving orange mass.  “That's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature.”

“Well, then.  Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go,” said Rose.

The Doctor and Romana glared at her.  As the Doctor walked off, Romana said, “We don’t kill on purpose, Rose.  Unlike some others, the Doctor and I like to give people a chance before making a final decision.  Best you remember that.”  She then followed her friend with Rose glaring at her back. 

Once he went down a few more steps, the Time Lord said, “I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.”  The Consciousness gave an answer.  “Thank you.  Might I have permission to approach?” he then asked.  Once approval was given, the Doctor began his descent.

Just then, Rose ran by him.  Looking down, Romana saw the real Mickey leaning against one of the railings.  “Oh, my God!  Mickey!  It's okay!  It's alright!” the girl said as she knelt next to him. 

Stammering, the man managed to get out:  “That thing down there, the liquid, Rose – it can talk!”  He then pointed at the Consciousness with fear.

“You're stinking!” she said.  She then turned to the Time Lords.  “Doctor, Romana, they kept him alive!”

“Yeah, that was always a possibility.  Keep him alive to maintain the copy,” said the Doctor.

Disgust in her eyes, Rose said, “You knew that and you never said?”

“Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?” the Doctor asked.  He continued to walk down while Romana stayed with Rose who was trying to help Mickey to stand.  Once he arrived at the vat, he asked, “Am I addressing the Consciousness?”  The plastic flobbled in answer.  “Thank you.  If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology.  So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?”  The plastic then responded with various noises.  “Oh don't give me that,” said the Doctor.  It's an invasion!  Plain and simple!  Don't talk about constitutional rights!” 

It then spluttered violently, causing Romana to cringe.  “What is it saying?” asked Rose.

“Don’t ask,” replied the Time Lady as she listened to the conversation.

“I…am…talking!” said the Doctor.  “This planet is just starting.  These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more.  I'm asking you on their behalf – please, just go.”

Suddenly, two Autons appeared behind the Time Lord.  “Theta!” yelled Romana.

Unfortunately, the warning was too late as the mannequins grabbed him.  One of them pulled the anti-plastic from his jacket pocket.  “That was just insurance!  I wasn't going to _use_ it,” explained the Doctor.  But the plastic refused to listen.  “I was not attacking you.  I'm here to help.  I'm not your enemy.  I swear, I'm not…what do you mean?”  They all looked up when they heard doors beginning to open.  When the TARDIS appeared, the Doctor said, “Oh, oh no – honestly, no!  Yes, that's my ship.”  The Consciousness roared.  “That's not true,” replied the Doctor.  “I should know, I was there.  I fought in the war.  It wasn't my fault!  I couldn't save your world!  I couldn't save any of them!”

“What's it doing?!” asked Rose. 

“The Consciousness must have scanned the area and identified the TARDIS and realized where it comes from.  Now it’s scared,” replied Romana.

“It's going to the final base.  It's starting the invasion!  Romana, get them out!  Just leg it!  Now!” the Doctor ordered.

As Rose pulled out her phone, Romana pushed the two humans toward the TARDIS.  “To the TARDIS, quick!” she ordered. 

Just then, the plastic began to send out the signal.  “It's the activation signal!  It's transmitting!  Romana, try to block it!” yelled the Time Lord.

She breaks into a run and made it to the TARDIS.  Unlocking the door, she ran in and went to the console.  “Come on, girl,” she said.  “Let’s see what we can do.”  She then began to flip a few switches.  Unfortunately, nothing was working.  “Damnit,” she cursed.  “They must be adapting it.  We can’t block it.”

Rose then ran in, saying, “The stairs have gone!  What do we do?”

“Hold on,” replied Romana as she flipped a few more switches.  “I’m trying to block the signal.  Bad news is that the Consciousness keeps changing the frequency too quickly.”  Looking at the scanner again, she yelled, “Bloody hell!”  She then ran back out, Rose following.  “Nothing’s working!” she yelled down at her friend.

Hearing her, the Doctor begins to struggle against the Autons’ hold, trying to reach the anti-plastic.  Suddenly, Rose picks up an axe and said, “I've got no A Levels.”

“Just leave him, Rose,” said Mickey.

“No job,” she continued.  “No future.”  She began to hack at a chain.  “But I tell you what I have got.  Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team.”  Romana watched as the chain came loose and Rose grabbed it.  “I got the bronze!”  She then swung over the Consciousness, kicking the mannequins that were holding the Doctor into the vat – taking the anti-plastic with it. 

Romana grabbed Mickey by the arm and pushed him into the TARDIS.  Running back to the console, she began to flip a few more switches in order to get the old girl ready to enter the Vortex.  A few moments later, the Doctor and Rose ran in.  “Got her ready?” he asked as he joined Romana at the console.

She did not answer at first as she was looking at Rose.  She saw a smile of satisfaction on her face.  Turning her attention back to the Doctor, she replied, “Waiting on you.  Do you have to be so slow?”

“You know me.  Always love the last minute escapes,” he retorted as he pulled a lever.  The engines groaned as the TARDIS entered the Vortex.  A minute or two later, the groaning stopped. 

Looking at the two humans, Romana saw the fear in Mickey’s eyes.  “It’s safe to go out now,” she told him.

He did not have to be told twice as he ran out of the TARDIS, Rose following him.  “Some just can’t handle it,” said the Doctor.

“Some aren’t meant to,” amended Romana.  “What are we going to do now?”

“Continue on,” he replied.  “But…”  He looked at Romana as he pointed toward the door.  “What do you think about her?” he asked.

She looked at him for a second.  “I don’t know yet,” she answered.  “She seems capable enough.  Though there’s something about her…” she trailed off, not knowing what to say next.  “She seems a bit self-centered.  And dangerous.  I don’t like it.”

He nodded.  “I saw that too,” he said.  “Maybe we can change that.”  He then walked toward the door, leaning against it as Romana leaned against the railing.  Rose turned back to them.  “Nestene Consciousness?” he said, snapping his fingers.  “Easy.”  Romana snorted.

“You were useless in there.  You'd be dead if it wasn't for me,” Rose teased as she pointed at herself, seeming quite proud.  And arrogant.  Romana rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I would,” admitted the Doctor.  “Thank you.  Right then!  We'll be off!  Unless, uh... I don't know…you could come with us.”  Rose stared at him.  “This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.”

“Don’t!” said Mickey.  “They’re aliens! They’re things!”

The Time Lord pointed at Mickey.  “He's _not_ invited,” he said.  “What do you think?  You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep; or you could go, uh…anywhere.”

“Is it always this dangerous?” she asked.

“Only if you’re not looking for it,” said Romana.  “If you’re looking for it, then nothing tends to happen.”

As Mickey wrapped his arms around Rose’s legs, the girl replied, “Yeah, I can't.  I've um…gotta go and find my mum and um…someone's gotta look after this stupid lump.”  She chuckled as she patted Mickey on the back.  “So…”

They nodded.  “Okay.  See you around,” said the Doctor as he closed the door.  Romana watched as he walked to the console and flipped some switches, taking the TARDIS into the Vortex. 

“That’s odd,” said Romana.  He looked up at her.  “You don’t usually just leave like that.  I thought you said that you wanted to change her outlook.  And you did leave out one important part.”

He looked at her for a moment before flipping a few more switches.  He then walked back to the doors and poked his head out.  She heard him say, “By the way, did I mention, it also travels in time?”  he then came back in, leaving the door ajar.  He then walked to Romana and pulled her into a hug.  “Let’s see how this goes,” he said.

The Time Lady nodded but could not shake the feeling that this was not a good idea.  She knew that she was going to have to watch Rose closely.


End file.
